Monday, May 7, 2007

A Little History: How It All Started

In 1996, Kate Thomas and a friend, Joyce Joines, attended the American Christian Writer’s Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Due to a back injury, Kate could barely walk. Joyce promised to help Kate walk during the conference and the two were convinced it was God’s will for them to go to Nashville.

Though Kate missed several workshops because of the intense pain, it was during one of these times outside a session that Conference speaker, Donna Goodrich, chatted with her. Donna realized the longing of Kate’s heart to start a Christian Writers Conference in central Kentucky and offered to help.

After a year of planning and work, and with the help of Joyce Joines and Brenda Loy, the dream became a reality. The first Kentucky Christian Writers Conference was held at Memorial United Methodist Church, Elizabethtown, Kentucky in June of 1997 with sixty-one in attendance.

Attendance has grown steadily, and we hope to break the record this year. The 2007 conference coordinator is Mary Gaskins of Louisville. She heads a committee of volunteers who work year-round on the annual conference.

Over the years, the conference has received many favorable comments, but this one stands out: "The people who put on the KCWC events actually seem to care about us as writers and about our individual writing."

It seems that way because it's true.

No comments: